Aces High Bulletin Board

General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Nash on July 22, 2006, 03:09:18 PM

Title: Tesla Motors
Post by: Nash on July 22, 2006, 03:09:18 PM
Does this (http://www.teslamotors.com) look any good to you car guys?

(http://blog.scifi.com/tech/pics/Tesla_Roadster_w.jpg)

- 100% electeric

- 0 to 60 mph in about 4 seconds (the new Porsche 911 does it in 3.7)

-  Top speed of over 130 mph

- 250 miles between charges

- A full charge takes 3.5 hours; less if the battery doesn't need a full charge
Title: Tesla Motors
Post by: ramzey on July 22, 2006, 03:44:53 PM
price?
Title: Tesla Motors
Post by: Flit on July 22, 2006, 04:08:28 PM
price is not out yet- Wife want's one tho
 LOL She'd even let me take it to the track, 'cause it does'nt burn any gas
Title: Tesla Motors
Post by: Maverick on July 22, 2006, 04:13:29 PM
Quote
Originally posted by ramzey
price?


If you have to ask you can't afford it.
Title: Tesla Motors
Post by: Rolex on July 22, 2006, 04:58:23 PM
First roadster will be about $80,000. A lower-priced sedan is in the works.
Title: Re: Tesla Motors
Post by: xrtoronto on July 22, 2006, 05:35:51 PM
Quote
Originally posted by Nash
- A full charge takes 3.5 hours; less if the battery doesn't need a full charge


I wonder how much it costs on your hydro bill to recharge the battery?

very nice looking vehicle though

ALSO a great way to lessen our dependence on middle east oil:aok
Title: Tesla Motors
Post by: Suave on July 22, 2006, 05:46:05 PM
If it can only go roughly 100 miles from it's charger, that's one expensive commuter car.
Title: Tesla Motors
Post by: Nilsen on July 22, 2006, 06:08:12 PM
Quote
Originally posted by Flit
price is not out yet- Wife want's one tho
 LOL She'd even let me take it to the track, 'cause it does'nt burn any gas


but it may be charged by a coal burning powerplant :D
Title: Tesla Motors
Post by: Rolex on July 22, 2006, 06:14:58 PM
Quote
Originally posted by Suave
If it can only go roughly 100 miles from it's charger, that's one expensive commuter car.


Range is 250 miles with efficiency @ < 2 cents per mile.

You must be thinking of some other car?
Title: Tesla Motors
Post by: Meatwad on July 22, 2006, 07:23:04 PM
Too bad there isnt a car that runs on the hot air of a nagging woman, we would have an unlimited supply of resources :D
Title: Tesla Motors
Post by: Boroda on July 22, 2006, 07:24:20 PM
Tesla motors?

Nikola Tesla went off the rocker before he died. IIRC he declared that he invented a perpetuum mobile and other funny things...

Great man but not a good name for a company to trust it.
Title: Tesla Motors
Post by: Sandman on July 22, 2006, 07:37:28 PM
Quote
Originally posted by Boroda
Tesla motors?

Nikola Tesla went off the rocker before he died. IIRC he declared that he invented a perpetuum mobile and other funny things...

Great man but not a good name for a company to trust it.


Don't over-estimate the education of Americans. ;)
Title: Tesla Motors
Post by: Holden McGroin on July 22, 2006, 09:56:23 PM
Decisions, decisions....

(http://www.techeblog.com/files/mullen_2.jpg)

Hybrid Technologies, Nevada....

200 mph, 0-60 3 sec, 100 mile range...

They already have PT Cruisers, Minis, Crossfires, and Smart Cars converted to Li battery electric power.
Title: Tesla Motors
Post by: nirvana on July 23, 2006, 03:50:26 AM
I know it would be heavy, but couldn't they just put in some extra batteries?  Or some kind of super strength alternator to maybe extend the range?  Maybe a small generator driven off a belt or something.  250 miles isn't super practical, especially have to recharge for 3.5 hours when you can fill up in a few minutes.
Title: Tesla Motors
Post by: Jackal1 on July 23, 2006, 07:56:40 AM
What width swath does it cut?  
:D
Title: Tesla Motors
Post by: Ghosth on July 23, 2006, 08:03:50 AM
Think Hybrid.

Actually if you REALLY wanted a car that could do it all.
Think steam /electric hybrid.

Could burn sold/liquid fuel such as waste oil, wood pellets, corn, coal, wood,
grass, newspaper, cardboard, alcohol, virtually anything that burns. It could do it cleanly, effeciently, with no dependance on foriegn oil.

Convert that heat to steam, drive a generator with it.

The biggest problem with the steam car was that it was slower to start
up. Took 5 - 15 minutes to fire up enough steam to move.
Well with a steam/electric hybrid, thats not a problem.

So if we really needed to we could burn our own garbage to get around.

If we are willing to try.

Or you can continue to give the oil company's 3 - 5 dollars per gallon just to get from point a to point b.

The other alternative would be to go back to Tesla's idea.
Broadcast the power into the air, put an antenna on the car, and go where you liked.
Title: Tesla Motors
Post by: Nashwan on July 23, 2006, 08:11:51 AM
Quote
250 miles between charges


They claim they expect 250 miles one the EPA highway cycle. That assumes an average speed of less than 50 mph, and a max of 60 mph, and excludes the stop start of urban driving.

I'd be suprised if it did more than 100 miles in the real world of hills and towns and hard acceleration.

Edit: they say the battery pack is 1,000 lbs Li-ion. They don't say the storage capacity, but that should be a maximum of about 90 Kw/h.

That's about the same as 2.5 US gallons of gasoline. Granted an electric motor in a car is far more efficient than a petrol engine, but it's still the energy desity of 2.5 gallons of gasoline dragging a very heavy car (the battery alone weighs 1000 lbs).
Title: Tesla Motors
Post by: Jackal1 on July 23, 2006, 08:37:55 AM
The Tesla will be offered in two models in 2007.
The standard 2 wheel drive model...........
(http://www.onpoi.net/ah/pics/users/22_1153661383_2wheel.jpg)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

----------or the optional 4 wheel drive model.

(http://www.onpoi.net/ah/pics/users/22_1153661427_4wheel.jpg)

In case of a collision in which the auto is considered totaled , your vehicle will still be of use to you . The coil may be used as a source for remote neon power, to rid yourself of pesky neighbors and many, many more nifty uses.




:)
Title: Tesla Motors
Post by: lazs2 on July 23, 2006, 09:40:29 AM
Since you ask... I think it is a very ugly car.   Very expensive too.  I would not want one for myself.

That does not mean that I don't want other people to buy it.  I am glad that private enterprise is doing the research and that there are enough idle rich or eccentrics  to buy their stuff.

From this car may come something good.    Right now it is just an expensive, poorly functioning toy with a short range that adds to the load of our coal burning and petro burning power plants.   It probly gets about 25 miles with the ac or heater on but....

Someday we may (if the government quits meddling) get some solar panels that are in the 80% efficeint range so that 2 or 3 4' by 8' panels will supply all the electrical for most homes and enough to charge batteries to boot..

At that point.... we will be glad all the eccentrics bought such toys as these cars and helped them evolve to something useable and... brought down the price in so doing.

The real key to making the world a better place for all is free, or relatively free.... electricity.

lazs
Title: Tesla Motors
Post by: Furball on July 23, 2006, 09:45:02 AM
Lazs dream car: -

(http://www.roberthouse.com/other/france/images/lyon/smart_car.jpg)
Title: Tesla Motors
Post by: lazs2 on July 23, 2006, 09:46:11 AM
Allready trying to figure out how to get a big block 502 inch motor in it furbie.

lazs
Title: Tesla Motors
Post by: Furball on July 23, 2006, 09:49:14 AM
i think you should start thinking about how you are gonna fit in it too... :D
Title: Tesla Motors
Post by: lazs2 on July 23, 2006, 10:02:53 AM
LOL furbie... that  is a sore point..   at over 6' I sometimes forget it.

When I put the small block into the Healey.... I realized that.... I no longer fit in the car.   I had to hack up the old battery cover area and move the seat back six inches from where it was at it's furthest back stock position.

lazs
Title: Tesla Motors
Post by: mipoikel on July 23, 2006, 11:33:30 AM
Smart is going to USA soon. http://www.smartusa.com/

I see those daily here, actually it is quite funny vehicle. :D
Title: Tesla Motors
Post by: Maverick on July 23, 2006, 12:53:12 PM
How long are those smart cars?
Title: Tesla Motors
Post by: J_A_B on July 23, 2006, 01:20:24 PM
I think the "smart" car got its name because if you live in a northern city, it's smarter to commute in one of those than on a motorcycle.


J_A_B
Title: Tesla Motors
Post by: MrRiplEy[H] on July 23, 2006, 01:33:45 PM
The smart 2-seater is so short you can park it crossways to a normal parking spot on the curb. I've seen it done in Greece. :D

Some guy parked his Smart in the crack between two parked regular cars sideway.
Title: Tesla Motors
Post by: BGBMAW on July 23, 2006, 02:33:26 PM
if we stop buying mid east oil..they will all stave and die!!


dont kill the middel east!

we will then need to send "aid" to them
Title: Tesla Motors
Post by: Suave on July 23, 2006, 05:20:34 PM
Quote
Originally posted by Rolex
Range is 250 miles with efficiency @ < 2 cents per mile.

You must be thinking of some other car?


250 miles between charges, that means max radius from charger is 125 road miles. In other words roughly 100 miles. In some countries thats a good distance, but in the states that's a comute to work or an airport, and in rural US that's a trip to the grocery store. The same thing can probably said for countries like Canada, China, Austrailia or Russia.

So yes, an $80k comuter car. Which, in most places, will be fueled by a coal burning power plant.

And less than 2 cents per mile? I don't believe that for a second, that is actually cheaper than walking.
Title: Tesla Motors
Post by: lazs2 on July 24, 2006, 09:03:33 AM
To get that kind of range you might not want to turn on the ac or heat or defrost or headlights or windshield wipers.   or... radio if you are one of those that likes a powerful stereo.

lazs
Title: Tesla Motors
Post by: Goomba on July 24, 2006, 10:43:25 AM
Lesse...

Looks pretty...but,

$80,000 is a joke.  Completely useless as an actual mass-market product, since only the stoopid rich could even buy it.  If it's not buyable by the general public, it solves no ecological problems.  Just an icon to an idea, but with no real practical impact.

Without a paradigm shift in commercial electric power generation, this will just offset the ecological impact.  Electricity has to be made somewhere, and these days that's with fossil fuels, like it or not.  I might agree that it has some effect on reducing foreign oil dependence, since in the US we typically don't burn oil for power, but then I return to arguement number one...no one can afford to drive the damn thing in the first place.

Lack of service infrastructure.  This is not a system your local mechanic can properly service, and few, if any, understand anything about high-capacity electrical drive systems.  Further, since one would be perhaps dependent on dealer servicing, I question the availablility of Tesla Motors dealerships for said service.  Who's gonna help you when you break down?

Lastly, not only does the price exclude the thing from any realm of practicality, but a two-seat roadster is useless for the mass-family-market...which is where you want to be for big sales and capital recovery.

In the end...nice to look at, and an interesting re-proof-of-concept car, but...

...no real value or impact from an ecological point of view.

Pretty but pointless.

I'd still rather see a whole-hearted effort to restructure the nations energy systems to non-fossil generation, rather than toying with the end product.  Walk before you run kinda thing...

Title: Tesla Motors
Post by: john9001 on July 24, 2006, 11:38:37 AM
on the same thought, NYC has ok'ed the use of a Ford hybrid for use as a taxi cab in the city,  the drivers report that gasoline use is 50% less than the present cabs in use. NYC says in 4-6 years the whole fleet will be hybrids.

this is no "pie-in-the-sky" thing, it is happening right now.
Title: Tesla Motors
Post by: Eagler on July 24, 2006, 11:54:14 AM
Nash
I bet you and your domestic partner will look dreamy in it :)
Title: Tesla Motors
Post by: Sandman on July 24, 2006, 12:54:36 PM
Quote
Originally posted by john9001
on the same thought, NYC has ok'ed the use of a Ford hybrid for use as a taxi cab in the city,  the drivers report that gasoline use is 50% less than the present cabs in use. NYC says in 4-6 years the whole fleet will be hybrids.

this is no "pie-in-the-sky" thing, it is happening right now.


UPS is going with a hyrdraulic hybrid (http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/breaking_news/15081997.htm).
Title: Tesla Motors
Post by: MrRiplEy[H] on July 24, 2006, 01:08:56 PM
They're developing capacitor nanotube based next-gen batteries for mass production at the moment so electric cars do have hope.
Title: Tesla Motors
Post by: Speed55 on July 24, 2006, 01:13:02 PM
How many blackouts will happen in the summer?

Picture this...
 
It's 98 degrees out, and every house,  and apartment has it's a/c(s) running.  Then you've got each one of those units with there lights, computers, refrigerators, and hot water boilers drawing amps..  Now add a couple of cars to each house? What about people living in apartments? Most don't have private garage parking. You wouldn't be able to walk on the sidewalk without tripping on extension cords. Imagine alternate side of the street parking days..  

Progression in technology is good, but like  lazs said, solar panels make so much more sense.
Title: Tesla Motors
Post by: Neubob on July 24, 2006, 01:15:40 PM
Quote
Originally posted by Holden McGroin
Decisions, decisions....

(http://www.techeblog.com/files/mullen_2.jpg)

Hybrid Technologies, Nevada....

200 mph, 0-60 3 sec, 100 mile range...


does it come complete with a 13-year old japanese kid holding a pistol-grip 2 channel remote control?
Title: Tesla Motors
Post by: Gunthr on July 24, 2006, 02:03:35 PM
Don't be fooled, this is a re-tooled and sporterized carnival dodge-em car, with a new fiberglass shell for the hip lifestyle.   You have to be at least 42 inches tall to purchase one of these babys ...